4. The Evil Leader Of A Planet Affiliated With the First Order
One of the more thought-provoking glimpses provided by the trailer was the sight of a First Order rally. Fans have yet to learn exactly where this rally is being held, but it doesn't seem to be on either of the other worlds seen in the teaser or trailer. The world with the lakes and mountains and squadrons of X-Wings, as well as the desert planet called Jakku, seem to both be under attack by First Order forces and so seem unlikely to be the location of a morale-building speech by the post-Imperial bigwigs, and the planet of snowy forests where the crossguard-lightsaber wielding Kylo Ren wanders feels like a completely different setting. It's much more likely that the rally takes place on a world at the heart of the First Order, and that planet has got to have a leader, right? It's possible that Snoke is a speaker at that rally in his capacity as the local commander of the First Order and the Supreme Leader of the world where it's taking place. This theory has Snoke perform a role akin to that of the Imperial Governors in A New Hope, epitomised by Grand Moff Tarkin. In this scenario, much as Tarkin was blasted to nothingness at the end of A New Hope, Snoke could be a quickly dispatched one-movie villain, with a more senior bad guy coming out of the woodwork for Episode VIII.
Mike Morgan
Contributor
Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year.
You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike
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